now

MLB.com announced first and second teams for all-MLB honors. Oriole reps are Rutschman and Bautista first team, and Bradish second team. Congrats! Side note: The article cites Bautista's third all-time K rate, behind '17 Kimbrel and '18 Chapman. Of note, Bautista was age 28, Kimbrel 29, and Chapman 30. So perhaps the best is yet to come (when Felix is 30). Digging deeper to my favorite reliever stat, K/H, here are the eye-popping totals for this trio: Bautista: 110 K, 30 H, 3.67 K/H Kimbrel: 126 K, 33 H, 3.82 K/H Chapman: 93 K, 24 H, 3.88 K/H

Top 100's a good start!

Hey can you pass that thing over here, please?

Why don't we just do Yamamoto and get it over with?

When it comes to playoffs sometimes the little guys (Rick Dempsey) come up big. I wonder how often? In 68 years of awards (since 1955) I count 16 cases of role players dominating the big stage. I guess that's fair odds, and maybe it doesn't even answer the question of relative contributions to a winning team by floor vs. ceiling players. Anyway, food for thought. Here's my quick list of surprise WS MVPs (including 4 catchers): 1960 Bobby Richardson 1969 Don Clendenon 1972 Gene Tenace 1978 Bucky Dent 1981 Ron Cey 1982 Darrell Porter 1983 Rick Dempsey 1986 Ray Knight 1992 Pat Borders 1998 Scott Brosius 2005 Jermaine Dye 2006 David Eckstein 2010 Edgar Renteria 2011 David Freese 2016 Ben Zobrist 2018 Steve Pearce

I tried to make it simple but I like this complex answer. Besides, it's on point to the OP question, which is not what you predict will happen, but what you'd like to see happen.

With the Kimbrel signing, it brings into focus (or further confusion?) the roles of DH Hall and Tyler Wells. Hall maintains he still wants to start; Wells was our most effective starter in the first half of 2023. Both Hall and Wells have shown they can be effective in relief, whether long, short, setup or even closing. Now that Kimbrel is the presumptive closer, Wells' other roles become more likely. Hall's fate is yet unknown. The Orioles still need starters at least for insurance, if not to contend for the front five. Could Hall or Wells step in or is the need greater in the bullpen? With all the variables still in play, multiple staff choices present themselves. And who knows what Elias/Hyde will do? Therefore, to keep it simple, vote for your ideal roles for these two pitchers in 2024.

He was probably worth it just for that 2-strike 2-out double down the left field line to score Mateo from first and tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning of arguably the biggest and most dramatic win of the year, game 4 in the final Rays series (just watched the game replay a few days ago).

Agree on characterizing Mateo and Urias (and Mounty and Hays for that matter) as experienced "depth" at this point. Disagree that having impact bats "at times" warrants much playing time, or that trading them is "horrible" or a "whim." On the contrary, I think it's prime time to trade them (tho not necessarily all 4) at their peak value for our greater need, pitching.

That power tool's starting to look pretty good after all.

And here's the rub, times 2, of having your best stars at the C position. The problem is, still having to carry a terrible backup third catcher on the roster at least, if not holding Adley or Basallo on the bench for that ever-present risk of injury if one was stuck at DH. So if we can rotate them at C/1B, and forget about a third catcher, it could work. Otherwise the only way out is to give primary C to whichever one looks like they can give you the most starts at C, and get a king's ransom for the other one.

I second these comments. @Tony-OH the point you raise about whether it's worth it, I can relate to in another sphere. I'm an amateur at playing flute but I get obsessed with puzzling through theory and practice, and having done all that, decided to share it via posts to Substack (The Wayward Flute). But I only have half a dozen subscribers so often think, what the heck, it's not worth it. Next thing I know, I'm doing the same thing again because, what the heck, it's my personal passion anyway so might as well share what I'm doing for the few others who value it. That said, the comments in this thread should tell you your work truly is appreciated on a much larger scale than my flute studies, or what the rep points indicate. In any case, do what you love...

Appreciate the sentiment... but good luck with that. Frank Robinson age 30 comp = Hank Aaron, according to BB-Ref. Otherwise, Soto, Harper, Trout... anyone else you have in mind?

Where's that wow emoji when you need it?

With a previous post in this thread I highlighted a selection of notable or memorable comps for our current Orioles. Now I wonder what it would look like to compare our best roster (from that selected list, in order of WAR) with the corresponding squad of not-all-stars. Without further ado, here's our team alongside its historic counterparts: LF Norby Eugenio Suarez CF Mullins Kevin Kiermaier RF Cowser Ken Singleton 1B Mayo Bill Melton 2B Holliday Arky Vaughan SS Ortiz Jose Pagan 3B Henderson Bill Madlock C Ruthschman Ted Simmons DH Westburg Robby Thompson Bench Mateo Greg Gagne SP1 Bradish Justin Verlander SP2 Kremer Johnny Cueto SP3 Rodriguez Jose Berrios SP4 Povich Jarrod Washburn SP5 Irvin Scott McGregor RP1 Pham Jeff Samardzija RP2 McDermott Steve Renko RP3 Vespi Graeme Lloyd RP4 Baker Matt Albers Closer Bautista Trevor Hoffman Oddly enough, it's the starting rotation that appears the strength of our team of doppelgangers.

I agree, it's all pretty random and meaningless... but nevertheless somewhat entertaining when it comes to the list of comps (by age). Most of those names didn't register to me at all, especially for our fringe prospects, but there are a bunch of old familiars from the 60s and 70s, and some striking stars sprinkled in. Here's my personal selection of names that have some relevance in memory or star power, or just former Orioles.

That's kind of backwards from what I was suggesting. Just that that higher the walk rate of the batter, the less need for the runner on first to try to steal second.

It's not a bad thing; it just kind of undercuts the value of the stolen base, compared to getting into scoring position for a higher batting average guy like Holliday. Optimum would be Bradfield 9 Holliday 1, or Bradfield 1 Holliday 2. Then bring on the rest of murderer's row.

Not to quibble too much, but having a speedster on ahead of high OBP guys like Gunnar/Adley may not be the best lineup combo. Bradfield gets to first and steals second, then next guy up walks. More enticing is to steal second and then score on a hit from Holliday; or they walk Holliday and you have two men on for Gunnar/Adley and they have to pitch to them... or face Mayo/Basallo.

Thanks for the clarification. I had thought raw meant BP but wasn't sure. I haven't noticed such a wide spread in other prospect ratings, but this one jumped out.

That's quite a large platoon split. Also the 15 gap between game and raw power. @Tony-OHCan you remind us what the difference in those two ratings means (game vs. raw)? Thx

Guess we'll see what happens (or not) with that before next year's draft!

@Tony-OH You talk in a few places there about the Orioles' thinking process with him. Just curious, is that logical speculation or are you privy to some of that discussion?

Playoff added value too!

Sure. Just saying the 40 doubles and 20 homers should play just fine in Camden's spacious LF.